The Citation template is a versatile template for citing books, periodicals, contributions in collective works, patents, and web-sites. Its goal is to be an all-purpose citation template. It also has functionality to aid the use of the Harvard referencing style. The template allows author-date ("Harvard") citations in the main body of text to link to a full citation (generated by this template) in a "References" section at the end of the article via the Template:Harvard citation template. This template creates an HTML anchor, linked by #CITEREF followed by up to 4 author/editor last names and the date, to which the Harvard citation and related templates can link.

The template knows whether you are citing a book, periodical, or a chapter in a compilation, depending on which combination of parameters you use. For use with author-date systems such as the Harvard citation template, use of last and date parameters should be considered compulsory, where possible.

author-link (or author1-link): Title of an existing Wikipedia article about the first author.

last2, last3, last4: The second, third, and fourth authors' surname or last name, if applicable.

first2, first3, first4: The second, third, and fourth authors' first or given name(s), if applicable.

author2-link, author3-link, author4-link: Title of an existing Wikipedia article about the second, third, and fourth author, if applicable.

publication-date (or date): Date of publication.

date: Date of authorship, if different from date of publication. If only date is used, it will be treated as the date of publication.

year: Year of authorship or publication. (Mandatory for use with links from Template:Harvard citation. In some situations, the template may be able to derive a year from the full date.)

title: Title of the book.

edition: Number or name of the edition, if not the first; for example: edition=2nd.

volume: The volume number of a multi-volume book.

series: The book series of which this book is a part.

publication-place (or place): The city of publication. If more than one town/city is listed on the title page, give the first one or the location of the publisher's head office. If the city is not well-known, you may add a county, region, or state. States in the U.S. are denoted by a two-letter code; for example: place=Paris, TX (no period at the end). Where the publisher is a university and the place or location is included in the name of the university, do not use this parameter.

place: City in which the work was made, if different from the city of publication. If only place is used, it will be treated as the city of publication.

publisher: The name of the publisher. Omit terms such as Publishers, Co., Inc., Ltd., etc., but retain the words Books or Press.

pages: For use when multiple pages are cited. Adds "pp." before the page numbers. Do not use with page.

page: For use when one page is cited. Adds "p." before the page number. Do not use with pages.

author-link (or author1-link): Title of an existing Wikipedia article about the first author.

last2, last3, last4: The second, third, and fourth authors' surname or last name, if applicable.

first2, first3, first4: The second, third, and fourth authors' first or given name(s), if applicable.

author2-link, author3-link, author4-link: Title of an existing Wikipedia article about the second, third, and fourth author, if applicable.

publication-date (or date): Date of publication.

date: Date of authorship, if different from date of publication. This is most useful in older newspapers where days or weeks could pass between authorship and publication. If only date is used, it will be treated as the date of publication.

year: Year of authorship or publication. (Mandatory for use with links from Template:Harvard citation. In some situations, the template may be able to derive a year from the full date.)

title: Title of the article in the periodical.

periodical (or journal, newspaper, magazine): Name of the periodical.

series: Series of which this periodical is a part.

publication-place: The city of the periodical's publication. This is not recommended for established and widely-distributed periodicals (Vanity Fair), or periodicals in which the title contains the place of publication (New York Times). If more than one town/city is listed on the title page, give the first one or the location of the publisher's head office. If the city is not well-known, you may add a county, region, or state. States in the U.S. are denoted by a two-letter code; for example: place=Paris, TX (no period at the end). Where the publisher is a university and the place or location is included in the name of the university, do not use this parameter.

place: City from which the article was written. Generally, this is used to denote the dateline city of a newspaper article.

publisher: The name of the periodical's publisher. Use of this parameter is not recommended for most periodicals, unless it would help the reader in locating a copy. Omit terms such as Publishers, Co., Inc., Ltd., etc., but retain the words Books or Press.

volume: The volume number of the journal.

issue (or number): The issue number of the journal.

pages (optional): The pages in the issue where the article may be found.

author-link (or author1-link): Title of an existing Wikipedia article about the first author.

last2, last3, last4: The second, third, and fourth authors' surname or last name, if applicable.

first2, first3, first4: The second, third, and fourth authors' first or given name(s), if applicable.

author2-link, author3-link, author4-link: Title of an existing Wikipedia article about the second, third, and fourth author, if applicable.

year: Year of authorship or publication. (Mandatory for use with links from Template:Harvard citation. In some situations, the template may be able to derive a year from the full date.)

date: Date of authorship or publication.

publication-date: Date of publication (if different than date).

contribution (or chapter): Title of the contribution or chapter.

contribution-url (or chapter-url): URL of the contribution or chapter.

editor-last (or editor1-last): The first editor's surname or last name.

editor-first (or editor1-first): The first editor's first or given name(s).

editor-link (or editor1-link): Title of an existing Wikipedia article about the first editor.

editor2-last, editor3-last, editor4-last: The second, third, and fourth editor' surname or last name, if applicable.

editor2-first, editor3-first, editor4-first: The second, third, and fourth editors' first or given name(s), if applicable.

editor2-link, editor3-link, editor4-link: Title of an existing Wikipedia article about the second, third, and fourth editor, if applicable.

title: Title of the book or compilation.

edition: Number or name of the edition, if not the first; for example: edition=2nd.

series: Series of which this periodical is a part.

volume: The volume number of a multi-volume book or compilation.

place (or location): The place where the article, encyclopedia entry, or other included item was created. Usually, this is collective work's city of publication; if not, then use the separate publication-place parameter. If more than one town/city is listed on the title page, give the first one or the location of the publisher's head office. If the city is not well-known, you may add a county, region, or state. States in the U.S. are denoted by a two-letter code; for example: place=Paris, TX (no period at the end). Where the publisher is a university and the place or location is included in the name of the university, do not use this parameter.

publication-place. The place where the collective work was published (if different from place or location).

publisher: The name of the publisher. Omit terms such as Publishers, Co., Inc., Ltd., etc., but retain the words Books or Press.

author-link (or author1-link): Title of an existing Wikipedia article about the first author.

last2, last3, last4: The second, third, and fourth authors' surname or last name, if applicable.

first2, first3, first4: The second, third, and fourth authors' first or given name(s), if applicable.

author2-link, author3-link, author4-link: Title of an existing Wikipedia article about the second, third, and fourth author, if applicable.

year: Year of authorship or publication. (Mandatory for use with links from Template:Harvard citation. In some situations, the template may be able to derive a year from the full date.)

date: Date of authorship or publication.

publication-date: Date of publication (if different than date).

contribution (or chapter): Title of the contribution or chapter.

contribution-url (or chapter-url): URL of the contribution or chapter.

editor-last (or editor1-last): The first editor's surname or last name.

editor-first (or editor2-first): The first editor's first or given name(s).

editor-link (or editor1-link): Title of an existing Wikipedia article about the first editor.

editor2-last, editor3-last, editor4-last: The second, third, and fourth editor' surname or last name, if applicable.

editor2-first, editor3-first, editor4-first: The second, third, and fourth editors' first or given name(s), if applicable.

editor2-link, editor3-link, editor4-link: Title of an existing Wikipedia article about the second, third, and fourth editor, if applicable.

title: Title of the book or compilation.

periodical (or journal, newspaper, magazine): Name of the periodical.

series: Series of which this periodical is a part.

volume: The volume number of the journal.

issue (or number): The issue number of the journal.

pages (optional): The pages in the issue where the article may be found.

place (or location): The place where the article, encyclopedia entry, or other included item was created. Usually, this is collective work's city of publication; if not, then use the separate publication-place parameter. If more than one town/city is listed on the title page, give the first one or the location of the publisher's head office. If the city is not well-known, you may add a county, region, or state. States in the U.S. are denoted by a two-letter code; for example: place=Paris, TX (no period at the end). Where the publisher is a university and the place or location is included in the name of the university, do not use this parameter.

publication-place. The place where the collective work was published (if different from place or location).